Worst tier · Cocoa / cacao
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
CR-supported caution: not a pure cocoa powder, but a cocoa-containing mix that hit ~216% of CR's lead limit per finished serving.
AvoidA broader cocoa-product warning, not an apples-to-apples cocoa-powder ranking.
Why it ranks
This stays in the caution tier because CR's accessible October 2023 article gives a concrete result: one serving of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix supplied about 216% of CR's lead limit. That matters because mixes dilute cocoa with flour and sugar; a high result after dilution is still a useful consumer warning. I am keeping it #3 and labeling it carefully because it is a cocoa-containing cake mix, not a pure cacao powder like Navitas or Droste.
Highlights
- Official brand product page is live and describes a chocolate cake mix made with cocoa powder
- Exact current pack image verified from Bob's Red Mill's product-page image CDN
- Concrete CR percentage available in the public article text
Caveats
- CR Oct-2023: ~216% of CR's lead limit per finished cake/cupcake serving
- Not a pure cocoa-powder comparison; serving sizes and dilution differ
- Small listed serving sizes mean larger dessert portions can raise exposure
- Bob's Red Mill did not provide a response in CR's article
Testing method
CR triplicate ICP-MS — Pb & Cd vs CA Prop 65 MADLs, plus exact official product-page image verification